


light the spark in my bonfire heart

by CrypticVirago



Series: heart made of glass (mind of stone) [6]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Nines gets gavin a present, RK900 is Nines, and he cares about Gavin a lot, because he wants to show appreciation to who he cares about, it's valentines day fuckers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-24 08:34:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16171460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrypticVirago/pseuds/CrypticVirago
Summary: Connor explains that Valentine's Day is meant for displaying affection and gratitude towards those you care about. Gavin is who Nines cares about the most.





	light the spark in my bonfire heart

_The world is getting colder, strangers passing by_

_No one offers you a shoulder, no one looks you in the eye_

_But I've been looking at you for a long, long time_

_Just trying to break through, trying to make you mine_

 

* * *

 

It all starts when Nines overhears Connor and Hank talking with one another.

There was the common misconception that Nines lived with his predecessor and his partner, but that wasn’t quite the truth. Within the main perimeter of the Detroit, an accumulation of apartment buildings had been built due to the massive influx of residents to the city. After the revolution, there had been a decent number of people that left due to the scare of the uprising, and with vacant rooms, landlords were looking to fill them. So that meant it was rather easy for Nines to get an apartment. Sure, he didn’t have a lot of possessions – Connor continually joked that if he was going for a minimalist lifestyle, he was doing a very good job of it – but his apartment was still home.

It had come furnished, but that was only because the previous tenants left quickly enough that they hadn’t bothered to bring their furniture with them. Hank had warned him about how unsanitary that was, but Nines was confident that there was nothing wrong with the couch, the kitchen table, two barstools and the full sized bed. “Rather fortunate, I think,” Connor had commented, and Nines had to agree. Most of these abandoned apartments had been left furnished like this, so there had been a rather nasty attempt early on to raise rent prices for these rooms, but once Nines caught wind of it, it hadn’t gone exactly like they had hoped. It was a nice place, aside from the shifty management. Nines could walk to work and be there within seventeen minutes, where he usually waited for Hank and Connor to arrive in order to wish them a good morning.

But while he didn’t live with Hank and Connor, this didn’t mean he never went to see them. Since the revolution had ended, Hank had taken upon himself to teach Connor (and by extension, Nines) a lot of popular media culture. This meant movie nights, with the film of choice mostly being ones from Hank’s childhood or young adult years, the ones that he recalled with fondness. The movie began early and ended early, due mostly to the fact that Connor was insistent that Hank maintain a decent sleep schedule, something the lieutenant had apparently been lacking for many years.

It was one of these specific movie nights – February the eleventh, a Friday – that this conversation in specific occurred. Nines hadn’t heard the beginning, but the bit that he did hear was enough for Nines to gather some context.

“…shame that it’s on a Monday,” Connor was saying. Monday, February 14th, commonly known as Valentine’s Day, a day dedicated to displays of affection between lovers. It would make sense that Hank and Connor would be interested in such a holiday, then. “What about you, Nines?” Connor asks him, pulling him from the stream of information that came with his search of the holiday. “Do you have any specific plans for Valentine’s Day?”

“I don’t,” Nines answers. “I don’t have any romantic attachments to share it with.” It was common, he finds, to be ‘single’ on a day dedicated to lovers. Though there was implied negativity with the relationship status – or lack thereof – it was still a category many found themselves falling into.

“You don’t have to have a romantic attachment,” Connor informs him, and sends Hank a meaningful smile. “Valentine’s Day is traditionally meant for romantic lovers, yes, but more colloquially, it’s meant for displaying affection and gratitude towards those that you care about. It’s usually through romantic gestures or gifts.”

“Whenever you’re in school they usually make you make cards for everybody in your class,” Hank chimes in. “I fuckin’ hated it, but damn if you didn’t get free candy.”

‘Those that you care about’ was easily translatable to a small group of people. Of course there was Connor and Hank – they were his family. Connor was his brother, for all intents and purposes, and the lieutenant was his brother’s partner. Hank and Connor, but additionally, there was also Detective Reed.

It doesn’t take Nines much time to figure out something to give his partner for such an occasion. Though they were not romantically involved, Nines found that many platonic gestures also surrounded the holiday. It takes him only a few moments to order it and have it shipped to his home. It arrives via drone on Sunday afternoon.

With February 14th falling on a Monday, the day before was used as its stand-in celebration day. Many restaurants and businesses that found themselves closing at 9pm stayed open much later to accommodate the attending lovers, and most of the workers received an ‘overtime bonus’ as it were, in addition to the generous tips left by lovestruck customers.

Upon arriving to work, the wrapped coffee mug in his hands, Nines finds that the bullpen has been decorated, if marginally, in celebration of the holiday. Cheap paper hearts were stuck onto the walls, randomized in terms of color and size. With few exceptions, most were store bought, most likely from a dollar store nearby the station.

For once, Nines had entered the bullpen without Hank and Connor in tow. This was due to the fact that Nines had come earlier than he usually did, if only because he wanted to arrive earlier than Detective Reed. He figured that his partner wouldn’t appreciate Nines giving him a present on a romantic holiday in front of all of their coworkers, considering the detective’s private nature. It was fortunate that the bullpen was mostly empty by the time he arrived, and the break room was entirely vacant. Nines sets into the task of making Detective Reed coffee. His timing is rather spot on, because by the time he’s sat the freshly prepared cup of coffee on Detective Reed’s desk and stowed away his gift in his desk drawer, his partner enters the bullpen.

“What the hell are you doing here so early?” Gavin snorts. His jacket is zipped up, his hands are stuffed in his pockets, and his cheeks are still red from the cold outside. The past weekend – and projected for the next three days – a cold front was stagnant over the city of Detroit and the majority of central Michigan. It brought with it freezing temperatures and the evident threat of snow. The current temperature sat around 22°, not counting the wind chill. The projected high for the day was only 35°.

“I wanted to have your coffee ready for you when you arrived,” Nines easily lies. Gavin seems to notice the coffee sitting on his desk, and only once he spots it do his hands leave his coat pockets. He picks up the cup and lets the warmth of it sink into his cold fingers.

“Thanks, tin can,” his partner mutters, taking a sip of the coffee. It’s still hot, and it probably burns his tongue, but nevertheless, he makes an appreciate noise in his throat.

“Though I must confess that I have an alternative motive.” While Gavin fixes him with a confused, Nines opens his top desk drawer, pulling out the wrapped gift. “I want to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day, Detective Reed. And as is appropriate for the holiday, I’ve gotten you something.” Nines hands the box to him, and though Gavin merely stares at it for a solid thirteen seconds, he looks nothing but surprised.

After those thirteen seconds, though, Gavin sits down his coffee and takes the offered present. “You’re kidding me, right,” Gavin asks flatly. It sounds less questioning and more disbelieving. Nines just shakes his head, and waits anticipatorily for Gavin to open it. Gavin tears at the red wrapping paper, pulling it off and letting it fall to his desk. The box itself it plain with no label, so in order for Gavin to know what it is, he has to open it. It was entirely intended as a humorous gift. With the average amount of coffee Detective Reed drank on the daily basis, as well as his usual choice of vocabulary, Nines had thought it was a pretty nice fit.

It’s a coffee mug. Plain white with black text: “Fuck you you fucking fuck” in all capital letters. It was rewarding enough to be able to give the detective something in order to display his appreciation for the man, but something else easily beat that out. Actually seeing Gavin laugh, without the usual slyness or sarcasm attached to it, made Nines’ software feel… suddenly corrupted. The feeling only lasted for a moment, but it was still enough for Nines to notice, and be subtly worried.

“This is fuckin’ amazing,” Gavin says, and then he smiles.

And god, he’s so beautiful when he smiles.

“Why the fuck did you get me this?” Gavin asks, looking and sounding rather confused.

“From what Connor told me, today is a day meant for displaying affection and gratitude towards those that you care about. I wanted to be able to convey my gratitude towards you, Detective Reed, and I thought you would appreciate something humorous. Considering your frequent consumption of coffee as well as your usual language, I thought it was fitting.”

Gavin huffs a laugh in disbelief. “Thanks, Nines,” he murmurs, sounding genuinely appreciative. When he looks up at Nines, he looks… actually happy, an expression that Nines has never seen on him before. It takes him a few moments to actually remember that he needs to respond.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Detective Reed.”

Nines wonders if this is what falling in love feels like.

**Author's Note:**

> Work title from "Bonfire Heart" by James Blunt.


End file.
